The Secret Behind Wunderkind Stat Guy Nate Silver: He Grew Up In Michigan

November 11th, 2012, 10:36 PM

At East Lansing High School, Nate Silver was a nerdy math whiz, editor of the school newspaper and one of Michigan's most-winning competitive debaters -- a fast-talking, fact-finding, disheveled orator, writes Patricia Montemurri in the Free Press.

Last week, Silver proved himself a political oracle.

The brains behind the FiveThirtyEight blog for the New York Times, Silver accurately projected the outcome of the presidential race in 50 states, and most U.S. Senate races. Even as Republicans attacked, Silver stood by his stats that showed President Barack Obama consistently heading for re-election.

And with success has come news media stardom.

Before the election, nervous Democrats circulated a Facebook post that read "Keep Calm and Trust Nate Silver." After the election, a flurry of Twitter posts carrying the hashtag "Drunk Nate Silver" conjured up silly scenarios of what an inebriated Silver might predict next.